Artist Owned Villa

Description

In the late 1930s, Henri de Steenhault commissioned de Waerbeck to build a country house in Vollezele, on the edge of a beech forest. In the old Ferraris atlas (1777) the area is registered as Ellenbosch.
In 1973, the domain came into the possession of Bavo Cool and Virginia Smeets.
Bavo Cool, an internationally active lawyer, was an enthusiastic man. He saw himself as a world citizen and was committed to more respect for the universal human rights. As chairman of Lawyers without Borders, he was very concerned about the genocide in Rwanda.

In Villa Hellebosch he invited artists, human rights defenders, politicians and environmental activists to freely exchange ideas on numerous themes.

After his death, in 2003, the mansion came into the hands of Alexandra Cool, one of his three daughters. In collaboration with the literature house Passa Porta, she turned Villa Hellebosch into a highly valued residence for foreign writers. Between 2004 and 2015, more than two hundred writers stayed there, including Jonathan Coe, Olga Tokarczuk, Ludmilla Uelitskaya and Tommy Wieringa.
Gradually, Alexandra Cool broadened this operation and also opened Villa Hellebosch for writing courses, theater companies, academics, researchers and others. This broader operation will be further expanded from autumn 2019.


We offer peaceful moments in an artistic and rustic accommodation. The escape is near, local and comfortable, come and relax in our home from hectic and modern life.

Owners are on spot and live on the house aside.

Please contact me I am always available to respond to your questions.